What You Achieve is as Important as Who You Become @CoffeaCoffeeMY


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Good Morning guys,

it’s been a pretty good morning for me so far, got up bright and early (and by bright i mean that my fibro wasn’t much of a problem, fog was like 3/10, stiffness was 4/10, pain 2/10) and got on to my journaling during my Holy Hour followed by a very good jog. That was a little an hour ago.

Now I’m at my Current Fav Coffee Spot, Coffea Coffee accompanied by a fine looking , and tasting, Maestro Flat White, though i’ve now decided that i’m more in favour of the Madonna.

So today,

I’m going to take a look at the Henry David Thoreau quote that i came upon last week:

“What you get by achieving your goals is as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

The minute i saw this quote i knew i had to write something about it. It’s something that so many of us (myself as well) forget to think about. Now we’ve all got goals and dreams, whether you know it or not.

Some work hard to chase them,
Some work smart,
Some work tirelessly,
Some work in spurts,
And most of us use many of the various combination that can be formed

then there are those who

Pray but don’t believe
Wish but don’t act
Dream but don’t plan

Which I am going to call the Wishful Thinker, not to be confused with The Optimist or The Dreamer. A Wishful Thinker is someone who wants things to happen, dream to come true without lifting a finger.

Now to the point at hand,

The many of us goal chasers will encounter challenges, defeat and pain along the way to the finish line, now something else to keep i mind as you fight to Make It (achieve your goals, get what you wanted, reach the finish line) is who you are changing along the way, are you being Built Up, in which you get rid of the Unwanted Fat (character traits or elements in your life that aren’t exactly good, positive, productive, encouraging etc) or are you being Taken Apart (in which you find that you are losing the best parts of what makes You). It is so important to keep an eye on this, it’s all good if you’re being Built Up, that’s the best way to Keep Moving Forward, but if you find that you’re being Taken Apart, well then something needs to be done.

Do you really want to Make It but then be:
somebody that you’re friends don’t know?
or worse,
someone that you’re inner circle does’t recognise?
or worst of all,
someone that doesn’t know you they’re looking in the mirror?

To have lost the person that made those very goals in the war you fought to get here?

Achievement and Success is all great but it’s who you are that’s most important,
not what you are,
not where you are,
not how much money you have,
nor the car you drive,
how big your house is,
or
how hot your spouse is.

The ultimate goal in life is to be Happy, Pay it Forward & Live –

in a way that is in line with who you are and not try to fit in to what is deemed “normal”. Not only does normal not really exist, it’s contradicting the very nature of Us, we are all different so stop trying to be like everyone else.

Embrace who you are and work from there, don’t lose the parts that make you You. Make sure that when you Make It, You are more than You were, not less.

Ensure that as you Live and move towards your goals, you’re being Built Up and not Taken Apart. It’s not as easy as it sounds but it’ll be worth it.

Hope i got my point across,

if you liked my post and/or writing please let me know by any or all of the following:

commenting below

rating it (the scale is at the top of the post)

sharing it with your friends on Facebook

sharing it with your followers on Twitter.

I’d appreciate any and all of it.
Thank you in advance!

Straight From The Heart

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Back to Class, Parking Problems & Communication Issues@StarbucksMY


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Good Morning guys,

#BacktoClass
A new academic year has started and as such I’m back here at my old writing spot at Starbucks Monash Sunway, it’s been at least 4 months since i last blogged from here. Today i am accompanied by Latte, 2 normals shots topped off by a decaf shot. Good to see that many of the faces from the last semester are still around behind the espresso machine.

Birthday Present!
Now, maybe you’ve noticed a new addition to the pic above and maybe you haven’t, for my recent 23rd birthday my A-Team got me a Logitech bluetooth enable keyboard for my iPad and today is the first time i’m really using it and i have to say, it’s pretty damn nice. Thanks guys. Not that i didn’t like typing on the iPad itself, it’s just that now i won’t lose touch with typing on my macbook, which was happening last year. the iPad on-screen keyboard is way more compact than the physical keyboards and i started having some trouble typing on a physical keyboard a few months after getting my iPad, so now that will not be happening, feels very close to typing on my MacBook Pro. Oh, and now that there is no keyboard on-screen, the entire Retina Display is dedicated to my writing, that’s probably my favourite thing.

Today’s Point
The current issue on mind was kicked off by the Sunway Monash Residence office and their communication failure 2 weeks ago.

I was at the SMR office to apply for the the Non-Resident SMR parking, and was told that they don’t do pre-bookings and that i would have to apply next month. I figured that to mean come on March 1st. i actually thought about applying there and then for February, and i pay for the current month, which would essentially be burning the 50 bucks for Feb, but since I was told that there was no pre-booking i figured that if i come early on the 1st there wouldn’t be any problems applying. However i would not be able to go on the first so i got help from my mum and a friend but that came to nothing as i was told a few days before the 1st, while i was in perth, that not only was the SMR Non-Resident parking lot full but that the waiting list was closed.

Now imagine my confusion,

how can there be a wait-list if there is no pre-booking the week before the beginning of the next month. I was confused and not pleased, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying my great perth holiday; which i will talk about at a later date. So, on the first day of this semester i went over to the SMR office to talk to them but that came to nothing, there was nothing they could do to help me out, even though it was one of them who misinformed and mislead me. All i kept hearing was, “the waiting list is closed” and found out that they were taking-in applications on the 25th of feb….

Wait a sec… let me see if my math and concept of space and time is right…

A week is 7 days, thus 7 days before the 1st of march is = 23rd of February… but wait, that can’t be right because i was told there was pre-booking and that no applications are taken in during the last week of a month,

so…

is the SMR Office using a different calendar system (in which the should be public about it) or is my basic concept of the calendar system at fault?

Dear SMR Office,i think you guys need to get your act together and be very clear on your Non-Resident Parking Application Policies & Procedures, something like the incredibly detailed set rules and regulations for the parking lot that’s on the application form, but for the Application Process. Hopefully this happens sometime soon, hey maybe i’ll go over and suggest it, so that students like myself aren’t let down in such a confusing & bitter manner.

Oh, and in the event that you do actually have formal procedures & policies for applying, why was i not provided with that information when i came to inquire 2 weeks ago, or better yet last year when i got the lot.

So what i learnt from all this and my couple visits to the SMR office is the customer service isn’t all that and that there are people there that just don’t know how to communicate and that you can’t trust what one person communicates entirely as it may not even be right.

Ok, so i didn’t get my nice parking spot, i’ll just revert to the normal parking right?

But wait,

Unfortunately the Monash University Student Car Park (SCP) fills up by 9am, on most days, and the median, mean and mode of my classes is 12pm. So this posed a problem on Tuesday when I arrived at Monash at 10am… which was solved by parking by the side of the road that also leads to the SMR Main Entrance, somewhere in the region of a 10 minute walk from campus, somewhere on the road next to the South Quay Lake.

And I wasn’t the only one who had to park there, there were at least another 40 cars there.

Yes i was irritated and angry that I was misinformed and that in order to get a space at the SCP i would need to be there by 8:45am but I will (and have) adjust(ed). My little parking problem alone isn’t a big deal but i’m not alone in this, there are many students who face problems with parking everyday and some to an extent where they are late for class (even though they came plenty early) or miss class, Monash University Sunway Campus needs to do something, maybe buy some land next to the SMR or near the South Quay lake and build a multi level car park with a proper weather proof student walkway to campus.

Unsustainable Growth

How can you keep enrolling more students when you do not adjust the parking capacity to support the growth? Once upon a time, from a year ago, it was possible to get parking between the hours of 9 & 10am, but by 9 it’s not at capacity but over-capacity and spilling out all over the place.

Just let me be clear,

I’m not whining about this. yes I was on a rant for some parts of this post (at the least haha) but like i said, i’ll adjust and deal with this current problem, i’ve had much bigger problems to deal with over the last year than that of this.

Silver Lining?

Well,

It will give me a bigger push to wake up bring & early to get my morning rituals done and be at the monash parking by 8:30am, it’s going to encourage me to plan for the week and stick with it and i’m going to save a little more money.

Parking a week will cost me now RM8, which is RM32 a month which is Rm18 saved. hahaha.

However,

I would really encourage Monash to help ease this major parking problem as it is their concern, it is a direct problem for their biggest stakeholders, the students! and i also hope that SMR will get their act together, their customer service could be much better and so could their communication & transparency.

Straight From The Heart

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Dream Big But Start Small @ CoffeaCoffeeMY, Bangsar


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Good morning guys, it’s looking gloomy here in Bangsar, hopefully the day doesn’t remain this way, but even if it does, well at least it’ll be a cool day, yesterday was quite hot. I’m sitting here at my current Fav Coffee Spot, Coffea Coffee enjoying the lovely Madonna FlatWhite that they have prepared for me. The day has started of pretty well, lets hope the feeling can continue to resonate through the day.

Today I would like to focus on the topic of Dream Big but Start Small, something I got from one of Robin Sharma’s materials.

Life isn’t about skipping steps or having to rush (which is unfortunately what a lot of us seem to be doing, rushing through life), it’s about continuous improvement, or at least it is to me. There are steps that can be taken to reach a dream, the steps just adjust to the decree of the Dream, and as such steps can get more difficult as you go forward. The key however, is to continuously break the steps down as you move forward, while still keeping an eye on the Big Dream. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, everyone who Made-It, started somewhere, they didn’t just get to where they are now in a flash of light. They didn’t wait around and wish for things to happen either, they went out and happen to things, they broke things down and made long-term goals and took the steps necessary. All lasting success is build upon the foundation of long-term planning, starting small, building momentum and patience (I talked about patience in my last blog post).

Now the most important thing about starting small is that you actually get started, the broken-down steps make it so that the dream doesn’t look daunting or intimidating, it looks achievable. As you keep on going, you will find that it will in fact get easier, or if not you have more energy and enthusiasm to face the world, this is simply because as you Keep Moving Forward, taking down one step or mini-step or even micro-step, you will build up Momentum, and the this further helps to propel you forward, as I’m sure you have experienced before.

Now the thing about momentum is that life will throw a Wrench in the works and send you back to Momentum Zero (the point where there is no momentum whether because you are starting new or because of the Wrench) and you’ll have to rebuild the momentum again and though you might feel frustrated (or angry or upset etc), Brace The Storm, don’t lose hope and don’t give up. Build the momentum again, get to Peak Momentum and when the Wrench comes at you again and you find yourself at Momentum Zero, do the before mentioned again. Keep repeating this and, as with all things, you will find that the time from Momentum Zero to Peak Momentum will shorten with every repetition, but only if you focus and don’t give up that is. You’ll grow tougher and lengthen your Peak Momentum Life as you will have learnt to deal with previous Wrenches and as such, it would now take bigger Wrenches to sway you off course.

This is not something that will come to you automatically, you have to be conscious and aware of this, keep a Momentum Record if you think it will help, so that you can see how your momentum is doing, what your Peak Momentum Life is and how it has either grown or diminished. This is not a straightforward process, but it will be worth it. Focus, Be Conscious & Keep Moving Forward.

Straight From The Heart

Other Related Posts:
1) Getting to Greatness without Burning Out

2) Small daily improvements lead to stunning results

3) Keeping The Momentum

4) Better Than Yesterday, Always

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Patience, Timing & Not Rushing In @CoffeaCoffeeMY


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Good Morning guys,

It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good in the morning, hope to keep it going 🙂

Got out of bed, went for a run, had my Holy Hour, practice my singing a little, watched the mentalist and now I’m having a really good Madonna flat white at Coffea Coffee. The day is indeed looking pretty damn good.

I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to write about today, on one hand I’m thinking about talking about a dream I had the other day and on the other I’m thinking about writing about the Patience and the like. You know what, I’m going to take a look at patience.

There’s always a conflict between being patient and wanting to get certain things done. When I want to do certain things, I want to do them immediate and I used to get pretty restless until I got the thing done, I’m still working on it but am at a better stance than previously.

I’ve found that most good things that have happened to me in my life are the result of being patient, that at the right time that which I want and work for will work out. I have also found that most of my mistakes and general bad and/or stressful things have occurred due to me rushing into things, usually with the mindset that it’s now or never. But you know what, looking back, I’ve realised that those times when I thought I needed to rush or get into that thing now, could have actually waited. I will of course work towards the things that I want, but I have to remember that being patient has lead to many great things, and even when it seemed like I missed an opportunity because of patience, it ended up leading to better things later, most of the time. Rushing into things has caused me much pain, at least I learnt from them, and the most common lesson being, patience.

I’m going to remember to Prepare, Learn and Wait for the right time, not to chase because there are certain things that aren’t meant to be and others that are. I do believe in greater Forces, I’m not saying that we’ve all got preset paths or the such, and sometimes if it doesn’t feel right, then don’t do it. Take a step back and be patient, because I find that through patience is when I can stand apart, observe and learn, and through this is when I believe that we find ‘The Right Time.’

Being patient and finding The Right Time can sometimes be confusing and conflicting, but this is what I’ve learnt: The Right Time isn’t about rushing in or chasing after something, it’s about standing back to observe and learn (actively, consciously) as you wait, and then stepping in when it feels right to you. It isn’t going to be easy, especially at first, and we’re all going to have to make mistakes in order to get to a better understanding of when to wait and when to step in. It’s experience that truly makes a difference in this department, and from all that i’ve dealt with over the last few years and what little I’ve learnt it’s better to wait than to rush into something, maybe that’s just me.

One more thing, do not confuse being patient with wishful thinking, while being patient we are also preparing, wishful thinking is just expecting something to fall in our laps.

Have a great day!

Straight From The Heart

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How do you, will you Define your Life? @CoffeaCoffeeMY


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Good Afternoon!

Yesterday I checked out this new coffee place in Bangsar, Coffea Coffee and am back here today. If you happen to have seen Twitter (@arkaysthoughts) or Instagram (@arkaysthoughts) yesterday afternoon, you would have witnessed the barrage of pictures of this place and its coffee. I enjoyed a Maestro Latte yesterday, which was strong and powerful and today I am trying out the Madonna Latte, which is lighter yet not weak, it’s got a more balanced flavour. Overall, I really enjoyed both. It instantly replaced the space that Artisan Coffee Bar had taken up in my mind, not only because of the coffee but because the layout here is more comfortable and has better ambience, with better seating, good music (yesterday was more lounge music to suit the Sunday and today’s music has got a more jazzy and instrumental feel) and less noise; Artisan Coffee Bar was in a centre lot at Bangsar Village 2 and as such was right in the middle of foot traffic and noise. While it’s a good spot to people watch, it is not however ideal for my thinking, writing and reading. And as for people watching, Coffea does has a nice view of Telawi 2 and is not bad for people watching, and as was the case at Artisan, the “Scenery” is more often than not very attractive. Oh how I love Bangsar.

If you want to try out a new coffee place, check out Coffea Coffee along Telawi 2. A few doors up from Antipodean and La Bodega.

Now on to today’s point.

Have you ever asked yourself how you do and will define your life? How do you define being successful or being on the right track or making progress? It occurs to me that most of us define our lives using our careers or money as a benchmark, not always the only one but always the most important. We’ve evolved into a society that prioritises material gain, money being the main attribute. Think about it, what’s the main goal l for a lot of us? Is it not to be rich? It isn’t wrong, it’s what the has been conditioned into us by society. It is essentially peer pressure. Seeing the people around you solely focus their lives on excelling in their education and then in their careers. What ever happened to balance? Or family? Or health?

I’m not against being career oriented, I’m just asking whether you are aware of how you’ve defined you life and whether you actually like it. However you want to Define your life is completely up to you and no matter how you do it, there will be people who will judge you, who will envy you and who will criticise you. Do not concern yourself with them, just ensure that the way you choose to define your life, that the way you will live your life brings harmony to your life, brings happiness and satisfaction and not disruption and dissatisfaction. Don’t go to extremes, be committed to your Definition but don’t ignore the other components of life, balance is needed, a Harmony needs more than one note, some more important to you the others, but still needed nonetheless. Balance doesn’t mean having everything in equal amounts, it means to have enough of the various components of life to be in harmony (spiritually, academically, financially, physically, and emotionally).

So today take some time out to start the ball rolling on how you will define your life. It’ll take some time and plenty of thought. As for myself, I’ve got a rough definition and am still working on it.

Hope this post has been helpful,

Straight From The Heart

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6 Other similar, connected or helpful posts 🙂

Don’t Settle
Goals & Resolutions
Work in Progress, I am
Personal Productivity
Better Than Yesterday, Always.
Denting The Universe
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Goals & Resolutions @artisanroastkl


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Good Afternoon people,

The end of the first week of 2013 is upon us, then there will be another 51 left before we celebrate (or not) the end of this year and the start of another. For most the first week is important in setting leading tone for the year, through the birth of resolutions & goals, of new habits and practices. A great as it is to formulate such things, I feel that it is most important that the resolutions & goals reflect evolution, not revolution, that they aim for refinement and improvement of the successes, and/or otherwise, of 2012. There is nothing wrong with ambitious resolutions but for wishful thinking and lack of planning. Be ambitious with your resolutions, but ensure that the resolution is broken done into simpler goals, defined, specific & timed, that lead towards the resolution.
Do not confuse wishful thinking for being ambitious, they are not the same. Wishful thinking is ambitious thinking and dreams without untying in the effort, thinking that your resolutions will fall into your lap without planning or paying the price.

I’ve spent a good part of my Holy Hours over the last week on setting the tone for my 2013 through the setting of my fitness, financial, fun, material & personal development goals for the year and breaking them down into monthly and even weekly goals & guidelines to help clarify my routes and paths. I haven’t finished my 2013 Guideline, but I do have a draft to get the year cracking with.

The break down is incredibly important, if not the most important, part of forming resolutions. It ties in with helping us be consistent in the pace of our path to success, which in turn builds momentum. I look back over the last year, actually the last 9 months, and see that it was during the times of consistency that were my best, with respect to writing, exercise, personal development and social. Yes the consistency didn’t last forever but the goal there is to pick up from where you feel of the bicycle and get back to keep moving again, it will be difficult due to the loss of momentum and most will wan tot give up, but the people who succeed are the ones who pick themselves up and make the next wave of consistency last longer than the previous one. From 2 weeks and then falling off the rails to 4 weeks, then 6 weeks and so on. It will require lots of Discipline and if you keep the cycle going on, then maybe, someday, one day, there will come a point where you won’t have a Consistency Downtime. Maybe.

But the important thing to remember in chasing resolutions and goals, this year and every year, is that

1. small daily improvements will lead to stunning results. Break down your resolutions in to simpler, seemingly easier yet forward moving goals. As Henry Ford said,

“Nothing is particularly if you divide it into small jobs.”

2. Hone your discipline to build momentum and strengthen your will power and consistency.

3. Don’t give up, never give up. Pick yourself up, look at what you achieved before you fell, learn from your mistakes, then get back up and work on improving that. Keep Moving Forward

“Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom.” – Terry Pratchett”

And here ends my second post for the year, and another step to getting back on track, another step to my goals, another step forward.

Cheers & Keep Moving Forward.

Straight From The Heart

 

Journaling @TheBeeMY: Off a New Year, New Hopes & New Hurts


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Happy New Year dear readers and welcome to the first post of 2013 which is coming to you from The Bee at Jaya One with Flat White by my side 🙂

2012 wasn’t a great year but from all the shit that life threw, I made new friends and most importantly I started writing & blogging. It was the writing that really helped me get through 2012.

The last two months of 2012 was really messy and in the mess I didn’t get to write a lot, or have many of my Holy Hour, or quiet times and due to that, I degraded in certain departments of my behaviour and development. But that was so last year, on to the present 😉

I didn’t welcome the new year in the best of moods, I was… Blind sided, and that kept me upset and disappointed through midnight and for most of the first day of the new year. I felt hurt and I don’t think anyone else saw that, all they say was that I was upset, and well, they weren’t wrong but they weren’t right either.

It’s funny that the first post of 2013 should relate to my most popular post of 2013 Those You Love The Most Can Hurt You The Worst To most observers, they would have probably thought that I was making a big deal out of a small issue, or that I wasn’t being fair and well, let them think as such, I really couldn’t care because they truly do not understand why the BlindSide had such impact. In fact, it still upsets me when I think about it.

I guess the problem stems from the fact that I’m emotionally exposed, I don’t keep them on a leash and they then attached themselves to certain events that I look forward to, to familiarities, to people… And when things go south, I’m not prepared for it, it comes as a shock, and then anger takes over to hide the hurt & disappointment. Yes, I know, all this is my own problem, I expect too much of the people closest to me, and why? Maybe it’s because I feel that I try to my best to do that which others expect of me and I expect what I give? Maybe. But whatever it is, I started off the year with a lesson, and a very important one a that, a lesson that needs to be ingrained and is vital to my personal and emotional development. I’m sure that there are others out there who feel the same, and there will be others how disagree. Truly, all that matters is that which can help me Keep Moving Forward.

@arkaysthoughts: 2013 Lesson #1
Minimise your emotional exposure. Try your best to not allow let your emotional position be reliant on others. Learn to dissociate from that which can be disassociated. Learn to care less for that which disturbs, disrupts & aggravates your mental & emotional status.

@arkaysthoughts: 2013 Lesson #2. Make today better than yesterday. Always. http://t.co/VCG1Ahd9

This was not how I wanted to start 2013, i expected something very different with certain people but I will make the beet of it and learn and develop I guess that’s lesson #3:

@arkaysthoughts: 2013 Lesson #3 life is up & down. Aways try to make the best of something. there’s always something to learn from the good, the bad & the ugly.

This post isn’t mean to be a downer or a glass half-empty post. It’s meant to be human. We are, after all, human, and what is it they say about humans?

People will disappoint & hurt you, even the closest of relationships, and the closer they are, they worse they sting. So learn this from me, I’ve made this mistake plenty of times, but the frequency is diminishing, try your best to be minimise your emotional exposure in relation to external factors. Let your feelings revolve around you and how you fair in the world, and how you progress, around things in your control. Minimise your exposure to that which you cannot control. Make it so that when people disappoint you that you don’t take it like me.

Do what you can for the people around you and leave it a that. Stretch for those who stretch for you. Reciprocate that which they give you. There won’t be many people that will do this, so make sure you know who they are, and have your priorities in order.

It is a new year and I have no doubt that there will be great times ahead for me, and of course some lows as well. Just remember to keep your expectation of others in-check and expect more from yourself to keep your drive going and so that you Keep Moving Forward, but of course keep it balanced and realistic. Remember, focus in making today better than yesterday! And taking life a step at a time. i know this isn’t one of my best works of writing, but it is a step forward.

Yes I’m not feeling great now, but that’s life, and I will work to pull myself into a better state.

Again, Happy New Year and the year will Get better 🙂

Straight From The Heart

2012 in review


The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 9,200 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 15 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Journaling @ True Urban Park, Bangkok: Of Engaging Ghost Protocol, Getting Poisoned & Practising Living.


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Good Afternoon guys,

I’ve been in Thailand over the last week. Spent the first few days in Kaeng Kracang and explored the Natural Parks there and enjoyed the sweet sound of nature and lack of the first world. I was in complete Ghost Protocol, completely disconnected from the world and it felt nice. It was a timely retreat from connectivity, unfortunately I only managed to get one night of good sleep thanks to having to wake up really early after a day of travelling, one night on a thin mattress, another night of food poisoning. But all in all the scenes I saw were incredible. I took loads of pics, as you can see on my Instagram, but unfortunately I could not take a pic of the night sky which was amazing. It says scattered with thousands of little diamonds, some so very bright. It was breathtaking. I was sitting at the back of a pick-up truck heading back to my chalet and spent the whole time looking up, surrounded by pitch blackness of the night. That was probably the best part of the trip, so far, that 30-45 minutes, and although there were others with me, it felt like it was just me, the stars and the cool night wind blowing thorough whatever little hair I have on my head, and it felt great. I left Baan Maka, the chalet I stayed at in Kaeng Kracang, yesterday (but not before enjoying the sunrise there) and journeyed on to Bangkok, which is now where I am. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of big, busy, crowded cities so I’m really missing Baan Maka and it’s solitude.

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Right now it’s ok, I’ve found myself a nice, urban, teched-out, “little”shelter inside the Siam Paragon Mall, True Cafe/ True Urban Park – ( @trueurbanpark). I’m away from the noise and bustle, that’s not to say I can’t handle the noise, dirt and mess of the city, I just don’t like lingering in it for too long. I actually took a 40/45 minute walk to this mall from my hotel and it was nice to explore the streets of Bangkok and I think I’ll walk back as well. But for this moment, I’m going to enjoy one of my favourite things to do, chill at a cafe with a nice cup of coffee and write.

So the question is, what should I write? I’ve already given you an intro via a look at what I’ve been up to over the week. I guess it should be something related to my trip.

Well before I took my walk here, I was actually quite reluctant to so anything. I was happy chilling at Baan Maka and The food poisoning took quite a lot out of me, including my sense of exploration, so before I walked over here I just wanted to spend the day in my hotel room, resting, napping, playing angry birds, probably some reading and at the most go downstairs to the little cafe. Getting sick had really cast a bad feeling over the trip and Bangkok’s mess didn’t make my mood any better. I was looking for any excuse to stay at the hotel, and ironically, while I was sitting I realised that I was giving into fear, I didn’t realise it before but when I did I realise that I couldn’t let things be, I had to do something. I knew I had people in this mall, so instead of taking a cab or ‘tuk tuk’ to get here, I walked and I’m glad I did, of course with the help of my iPhone and google maps to prevent me from getting lost. I really got a look at the city, not all of it but at least some of it and I’m going to walk back to see more. Today I almost let the fear instilled by getting sick prevent me from ‘Living the Day’. Of course there’s a time to be resting in bed, that’s when the fear functions to our benefit, to ensure that we can recover, but by yesterday evening I was fine, the fear was overstaying its welcome this morning and was just making me last and preventing me from ‘Putting More Living in my Day’.

Always try to make the most of a your day, Live Life, don’t watch it slip by. It’ll take practice to get to a point where it becomes a part of you, so start practicing.

Now if you’ll excuse me, not that you have a choice haha, I’m going to check out what is supposed to be the largest aquarium in South East Asia or Asia.

Straight From The Heart

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Work In Progress, I Am.


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Good Evening dear readers,

I can hear the heavy rain outside as i sit here at Artisan, enjoying my Flat White. I haven’t got back into the full swing of things, having really got back to business, not for the lack of trying, I just need to try harder. The examination month really messed up my system and the holidays haven’t helped me get back to business either. One month has already passed, it’s December and I still haven’t got to blogging regularly. It’s been harder than I thought it would be, waking up early has been more difficult than I remember it and it doesn’t help they memories of last December come back to haunt me (last December, after my finals, was the time my fibromyalgia got really bad and got the best of me) so when I wake up really tired and/or foggy, it scares me and I go back to sleep to hide away from it. The fibro fog has indeed been making cameo appearance recently, now infact. Then there are other nights when I sleep late because of social reasons, which I have indeed cut down on this week and will continue to try to make social events happen earlier. Every time I think about how I haven’t been able to get back to waking up early and blogging regularly it upsets me, and then I start to think that maybe it’s the Fibromyalgia that’s coming back but that maybe jumping to old conclusions,I’ve had the Fibromyalgia at bay for a while now, so I really hope it isn’t that. I think, maybe, I’ve figured it out. I went through a major shift in my daily routine during my examination period and I can’t just expect to get back to what was before. I’ve been doing it wrong, aiming for big steps daily so that I can quickly recover, and that’s what’s been messing me up. I forgot all about small daily improvements to build up the momentum, now, i have very little momentum and I can’t just conjure it out of thin air, I need to rebuild it, I need to reset my foundation. Thankfully because it’s already in me somewhere, it won’t take as long to build it back up. This is quite a human thing I feel, we are all works in progress.

We are All Works in Progress. Don’t expect to get to your goal easily or without friction. There will be good times and bad. Times when you will fall a sleep at the wheel and times when you feel like an MVP, remember that it’s all part of the journey. We aren’t robots and we will make mistakes. I look back to all the times that I went of course over the year, and every time I persisted and got back on track. As Tobias Wolff out it

We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are.

That is why we keep trying. That’s why I Keep Moving Forward. Always trying to make today better than yesterday.

There are always going to be curve balls and hurdles in the journey we are each on, it’s not going to be a perfect journey, there will be times we might take our eyes of the road and run face-first into a hurdle or lose focus and get hit by a curve ball, we aren’t perfect, as I have mentioned before many a time, we’ve just got to get back up, learn, recalibrate and get back on the road. Sometimes, we may spend some time on the sidelines, such as what I recently went through. Distracting myself with other things, not thinking about where I wanted to go, afraid of getting back on the road, convinced that I would slip up again, a story that sounds all too familiar, especially over this year. What I’ve got to always remember is that I will slip up and make mistakes and get distracted, I’m never going to be able to erased that completely but I will be able to minimise it, and the last year has been a testament to that. Every time you feel that you can Keep Moving Forward, think about how far you’ve come and how a while back you thought that maybe you couldn’t make it to where you are now. Maybe all you need, is a little breather, we all need them regularly. The problem with these little breathers, as I also know too well, is that we sometimes don’t define how long they should be and we prolong them. On the other hand there is the mistake where we don’t take breathers and keep pushing ourselves till we burn out and then face being out-of-it for a longer term.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t beat yourself up too hard when you mess up, yes beat yourself up a little, remember that we are works in progress and that every time you or I mess up, it’s an opportunity to study and learn why it happened so that we can adjust for it and Keep Moving Forward.

Straight From The Heart